


On Background

by tommyandthejons



Category: Crooked Media RPF
Genre: M/M, off screen break up of canonical relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 18:46:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tommyandthejons/pseuds/tommyandthejons
Summary: Jon has a lot of feelings about Lovett and he needs an outlet to share them.





	On Background

**Author's Note:**

> A silly bit of fluff with little realism based on almost no knowledge of how any of this would work outside of extensive watching of TWW.

The truth is Favs has actually been providing background on Lovett for years, all the way back to when he was in the White House before anyone really even wanted it. It was mostly accidental; his top three topics of conversation were President Obama, speechwriting, and working at the White House, and Lovett, by virtue of working for him, overlapped with all of those things, and he’d gotten into the habit of confirming he wasn’t going to be quoted when talking to reporters because it seemed like they could turn the most innocuous things into stories. Generally, he avoids talking to reporters as a whole when he can because of that, but it’s useful to have a few positive topics to rotate through, and once he realizes as long as he’s talking about Lovett no one uses what he says, he adds that in with the rota of non-political topics along with the weather and sports.

There’s a point where it almost becomes a relief to be able to tell someone how awesome Lovett is without getting an eyeroll like he does from Tommy, or the uncomfortable agreement from Ronan, or the discomfort and deflection from Lovett himself. He realizes that it’s probably not the best of ideas, he does, but it’s hard to stop especially given how little anyone cares about what he has to say.

The first time something he says about Lovett gets used is after Lovett leaves him in D.C. and he’s telling a reporter how much of a hole it will make in the writing staff and the reporter asks, “Can I quote you on that?” which, honestly, Favs has gotten used to no one caring when he talks about Lovett, so he’s a little off-guard, but manages to say, “Just background,” because it would probably be pretty bad for him to be talking about how gutted his staff is based on the loss of one person and the reporter nods.

He means to say something to Lovett, but his absence really has made a difference, both in the amount Favs has to do and also in the amount of time he spends with Lovett, and between the one and the other, he never actually gets around to mentioning it to him. Instead, Lovett’s the one who calls him and says, “I think you have a problem with your staff, they actually sound like they miss me.”

“Hmmm?” Favs says, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder as he finishes a thought.

“I thought I had you well trained, but you must have turned into a real taskmaster since I’ve gone— they’re complaining about it to the reporters— ‘Jon Lovett, who will be missed by the President’s speechwriters, has moved on to bigger and better things in Hollywood.’ Maybe let them out to see the sun a couple of hours a week before you have a mutiny on your hands.”

“Actually, Lovett—” Jon starts, but Lovett’s talking over him.

“And don’t think you can guilt me into coming back because it’s not happening.”

“I know,” Favs says, because he had, from the moment Lovett actually told him and he realized why there had been so many whispered conversations that had stopped as he’d entered rooms.

“Get your house in order!” Lovett says and then hangs up abruptly, one of Favs’ least favorite things about phone calls with Lovett, along with the way they remind him that Lovett has to call him because he’s not there to just talk to anymore.

So Favs never confesses, but despite Lovett’s mocking of the articles, he can’t seem to stop talking about him to anyone who will listen either, not when he’s missing Lovett in the White House, or when he’s in Chicago alone, or when he finally follows Lovett out to LA and is across the street.

—

Everything comes to a head after Lovett or Leave it starts and suddenly there’s more interest in Lovett than ever. Favs loses track of the number of people he talks Lovett and the new show up to, and convinces himself that it’s fine because it’s for the company, even if he makes sure to not take any calls from journalists when Lovett or Tommy or anyone is around to hear him.

The only warning Jon has before everything goes wrong is a link to the article that Tommy DMs him followed by _Lovett’s not happy_.

Jon’s stomach twists a little and he skims the article quickly to try and figure out what Lovett would be upset about. Then he reads it again, and again before typing _???_ and then, for clarification, _it doesn’t say anything bad_

This time Tommy sends a single line from the article: _The newly single Lovett, who, from the sounds of things, won’t be single for long, is throwing himself into the podcast._

Lovett isn’t actually newly single; it’s been a few months now— three months and 12 days, but Favs feels a little weird about his ability to remember that when he’s struggled to remember anniversaries with some of his exes— but it’s also something he hasn’t really talked about publically, anymore than he talked about his relationship in the first place.

Jon scrolls back up to check the byline, and recognizes the name. He definitely talked to the reporter for this one, but he can’t imagine that he would have said anything so stupid.

 _I’ll look into it_ he types.

He tries, but he gets nowhere fast; as soon as he tries to probe, he’s told it’s an open secret, there are multiple sources, and how would he feel if he was revealed as the source on an article, and when he tries to ask who Lovett’s supposedly going to be dating, she laughs and hangs up on him and doesn’t pick up when he calls her back.

He doesn’t know what he would have done if he’d found out who spilled— it wasn’t like he could do anything about it at that point, or really that it was even his business, but when Lovett comes storming in, complaining about the article, maybe he would have responded better.

Instead he asks, “Come on, Lovett, is it really that big of a deal?”

“You’re right, Jon, it’s not at all a big deal when my personal life is splashed across the internet. Thank you so much for clearing that up for me.”

Okay, so it is a big deal, and he does get it, but he also wants Lovett not to be upset anymore. He tries, “Come on, between the podcast and twitter and instagram our lives are already all over the internet.”

“Those are things I choose to put out there,” Lovett says. “It’s different, and you know it. Someone chose to tell a reporter stuff that’s none of their business. Do you know how many questions about what happened I’m going to have to dodge now?”

Jon can’t keep a guilty look off his face at that— would Lovett consider what he’d said over the years the same way? He hadn’t thought it was; he wouldn’t have said it if it was.

“Stop looking like that, I’m not yelling at you. It’s not like you’re the one who talked to the press,” Lovett says, which just makes Jon feel worse.

He’s trying to figure out how to admit what he did say when Lovett takes another look and says, “Wait, was it you?” sounding incredulous.

“That wasn’t me,” Jon says quickly, “But—”

“Did you or did you not talk to her?” Lovett demands.

“No!” Jon says, almost automatically, then corrects himself, “Not about that!”

“But about me?” Lovett presses. 

“I was talking up the show,” he says, trying to explain. “I said you were funny and people should listen, not anything personal.”

No, nothing personal, just how smart and talented and great Lovett is, which anyone should be able to recognize.

“Please don’t,” Lovett says and it feels like Lovett doesn’t trust him which sucks, like maybe Lovett _does_ think he's the one who mentioned the breakup. “I can handle that on my own.”

And there’s really nothing Favs can say to that other than, “Okay.”

So Favs stops talking Lovett up to strangers, even cuts back in person in case it’s too much and everything’s fine. They’re still friends and it’s all okay, even if Lovett seems more like he’s playing a role even when they’re not doing the podcasts, and when Favs misses the way things were, he tries to tell himself that it’s just temporary, that things will be normal again.

—

It’s not that late on a Friday, and it’s just Jon and Jon at the kitchen table working on things for the shows when Lovett says, “I’m heading out.”

It sounds like he’s expecting an argument from Jon.

“K, man,” is all he says then just as Lovett’s at the door, he adds, “Love you,” almost automatically, the way he would at the end of a phone call with his mom or a girlfriend.

His breath catches then, waiting to hear Lovett’s response, but the only sound is the closing of the door, and Jon thinks maybe he hadn’t heard and doesn’t let himself question where that had even come from.

Jon keeps waiting for Lovett to say something about it, but a week passes, and then another, and he thinks he’s off the hook. He should be happy to be off the hook and not imagining Lovett responding in kind.

Then Lovett says, “You’ve got to stop acting so weird. I know you didn’t mean it. It doesn’t have to make things," he pauses, searching for a word then settles on, "weird,” again.

“I’m the one whose making things weird?” Jon asks, incredulous. Lovett’s the one whose barely even around anymore— he hadn’t realized how much time they’d been spending together until Lovett was suddenly busy, or unwilling to do things without a third party present.

“If it makes you feel better, I can pretend I didn’t hear it,” Lovett offers, which is what Jon had thought they were doing.

Favs asks, “Why do you even care? It’s not like _you_ love _me_ ,” and the words hang between them even more damning than Favs’ original slip because of the way they confirm it.

It drives Lovett to speechlessness and Favs wishes he knew what was going on in Lovett’s head, but each second Lovett doesn’t say anything is another second Favs can hold on to the hope that he’ll disagree, right up to when Lovett says, “We’re friends,” in a broken sounding voice.

Favs feels even worse then because not only did Lovett not disagree, he sounds hurt.

Just when Favs is ready to apologize because he doesn’t want to be the kind of guy who forces his feelings on someone, Lovett adds, “It’s not something I thought about before.”

It gives Favs enough hope to say, “But you’ve thought about it now.”

Lovett jerks his chin down in a small tight nod.

“If it’s not something you want, I’ll never say anything about it again,” Fvs says.

Lovett bites his lip and doesn’t say anything. Favs regrets every single time he ever wished Lovett would just shut up, just for a moment, because it feels like now when he least wants it to be, his wish has finally been granted.

“You don’t even have to say anything,” he says to fill the silence and Lovett says, “No.”

Favs looks away then because he doesn’t want Lovett to feel pressure and there’s no way he’s going to be able to hide the way he feels in that moment, but then Lovett says, “I meant yes— I’m not saying this well,” and Favs looks back at Lovett and he sees Lovett looking at him, really looking at him, like this is something he wants. Like Favs is something he wants. 

“Are you sure?” he asks because he almost can’t believe it.

Lovett gives up on trying to answer in words and kisses him instead, moving forward until he’s straddling Jon, letting Jon wrap his arms around Lovett and hold him close. He’d barely let himself think about the possibility, even once he realized how much he wanted it, and he can’t help but hold on with everything in him.

After Lovett says, “You better not tell any reporters about this.” 

Jon promises, even though more than anything he wants to tell everyone, but if he wants to tell the world, Lovett seems to want to keep it secret, something for just them, as long as they can have it that way. Jon knows with a bone deep certainty that eventually they’ll figure out something in between that’s right for them both, and until then it will be okay because now all the things he would have told strangers, he can tell Lovett, and when he won't listen to words, Jon can kiss him instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome! I'm on [tumblr](https://tommyandthejons.tumblr.com).


End file.
